FM says steps needed to revive high growth

Faced with a “challenging” economy, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the time has come to take measures that will put the country on a faster pace of growth and restore investor confidence.

“With regard to the finance ministry... this is a challenging time.. in the last two years, the economy has moved at a slow pace... whatever steps have to be taken in this direction, this is the time and you will have to wait for this,” Jaitley told reporters.

He added that the revenue collection has suffered due to the slowing economy, which grew at a sub-5% rate for two consecutive years. “To make the economy grow at a faster pace and reinstate the trust of investors in it, to make plans for bringing it back on track by holding consultations with stakeholders... I have done that in the last three-four weeks,” the minister said.